take you from the starry heights to the dens and caves of the earth, and to
speak to you a little about--not astronomy, but geology, as the science or
study of the earth is called. This is a very interesting study, but one in
which we may easily make serious mistakes; for we have not here the firm
ground under our feet which the Word of God gives us, and we must always
beware of saying, "This thing _is_ so, therefore that other thing _must_ be
so"; or, "This thing is not, therefore that other cannot be."
When we first began our talks, we read that "In the beginning God created
the heaven and the earth"--all that which is meant when we speak of the
"Universe." This is just what we need to know; and how gracious of God the
Creator to speak to us about His own works, and set at rest all the guesses
and reasonings of our minds as to how and when this earth first came into
existence!
Then we noticed that there is a pause, how long a pause we know not. The
silence of God, as it were, falls upon the scene; we hear nothing more
about the heavens, and nothing of the earth between the time of its
creation and its state as described in the next verse--a desolate, watery
waste, upon which darkness brooded.
It is a great thing to know how to listen when God speaks to us, and to
be silent when He is silent. "By faith we understand that the worlds were
framed by the word of God"; this is what He has been pleased to tell us,
and we cannot go beyond it.
In the chapter called "Ruin and Darkness," we learnt a little about the
"crust" of the earth; and I told you that those who have studied it believe
that they can read in it, as in a book, marks of the many changes which
have passed over it since the Creation.
As they search into its depths and bring out to the light of day remains of
plants and animals which lie buried there, they point to these "footprints
on the sands of time," and tell us that our earth is very, very old; _how_
old they do not say; they can only guess.
But long before anyone began to lay bare the recesses of the earth and to
ponder its age, God had told us that it is older than our little minds can
conceive, for He created it "in the beginning."
Men of science also when they speak of the work of God on the SIX DAYS
of His Creation, say they could not have been actual days of twenty-four
hours, as time is now measured. I have told you that in speaking of what
God does we must never say a thing _could_ not be; but rather lay our hand
upon our mouth, or speak as Job did when he answered the Lord and said, "I
know that Thou canst do everything, and that no thought can be withholden
from Thee." But we may also remember that, as God measures time, "One day
is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day";
"for a thousand years in Thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past,
and as a watch in the night,"
I wonder--as we have read now four times, at the close of each of God's
wonderful days, "The evening and the morning were the first," "the second,"
"the third," "the fourth day"--whether you have stopped to think why the
evening is always put before the morning; surely this way of reckoning time
is very unlike ours.
Is it not so reckoned because as light was made to shine perfectly upon the
earth, when God called it out of the darkness, there was no dawning of that
first day? It began when God said, "Let light be: and light was"; then,
with the gradual disappearing of the light, "there was evening," nothing
being told us about the "unfurled flag" of night, or the dawning of the
second day.
This at least we know, that whether in the beginning, when the strong
foundations of the earth were laid, or during those periods of time when
God was working to bring it into order and beauty, "no touch of man's rude
hand" interfered. The goodness of God was seen in storing it with mineral
treasures for his use; covering it with vegetation which has lived and died
and laid up vast abundance of coal; peopling the air and the waters with
birds and fishes. But with all this man had nothing to do, for one of the
very last acts of Creative Power was that which called him into existence,
and set him, as lord of all, in a place so carefully and wonderfully
prepared for him.
And as we look back over those Days of Creation of which we have been
reading, let us remember that each successive Day led up in perfect order
to making his dwelling-place perfectly fitted for him, the creature of
God apart from all others, specially formed for Himself. As has been
beautifully said, "when the sea was gathered into one place and the dry
land appeared, a secure footing was found for man; when the waters above
the firmament were separated from the waters below, man, the highest of all
created things, could look up"--all was done in reference to him, when as
yet he was not.
We shall not read about the work of God on the Fifth Day in this chapter,
but I want you to turn to the account of it given in the first chapter
of Genesis, and you will see that there for the first time in the Story
of Creation the word "life" is used. God speaks to us no longer of only
inanimate or lifeless things, such as the sea and the dry land, the earth
with its herbs and trees, and the two great lights which were made to give
light upon it. He tells us now of creatures which live and move and have
a being, each "after its kind"; each exactly fitted to enjoy life in the
place prepared for it.
The story of the way in which God in His mighty and gracious working
prepared earth and sea and sky to be the home of creatures which were yet
to be brought forth and created, is very wonderful. But when we read of
"the moving creature that hath life," and of "every living creature that
moveth," we come to what is still more wonderful.
You remember in the history of the plagues in Egypt, that when the wise men
tried to imitate what God was doing in sending His judgments upon the land,
there was a point at which they stopped, and could go no farther, "This is
the finger of God," they said.
What was that point? It was when they tried, by their enchantments, to
produce one of the meanest, as we should say, of _living_ things.
And so it has always been: man, the highest of God's creatures, apart from
all the rest, is still a creature, and he never has been able to usurp the
power which belongs to God alone.
It is true that man can destroy animals, and so hunt them down as to render
them extinct; he can also, as we have seen, by great care and skill and
long patience, produce what are called "varieties" of both plants and
animals, increasing the size of leaves and blossoms twenty, thirty, even a
hundredfold; but though he may talk of the formation of new flowers, with
endless shades of colour, they are not really new, but only varieties of
those already existing. You remember, when we were speaking of the "Green
Earth," we learnt that never, from the beginning of his life on earth, has
man produced a new _kind_, or species, of either plant or animal.
We must never forget this. God, who said to the mighty ocean, "Hitherto
shalt thou come, and no farther: and here shall thy proud waves be stayed"
(Job xxxviii. II), has also set a bound beyond which man, however great his
powers may be, is not permitted to go. Life, in all its forms, from the
lowest to the highest, belongs to God.
But perhaps you are asking why I said that we do not in the Story of
Creation read anything about _life_ till we come to the work of God on the
Fifth Day. Are not the trees and plants alive? Do we not say of a blasted
tree or withered flower, It is dead?
It is quite true that plants have a life which shows itself as we have seen
in their growth, and even in some "sensitive" plants, by their shrinking
from the touch. In the wheat-fields the order of the unfolding of the life
of a plant "whose seed is in itself," may be seen, as we watch "first the
blade, then the ear, afterwards the full corn in the ear." But this life is
very different from that of the lowliest animal which has power to feel and
to give expression to its feelings, power to move from place to place, and
which shows in its own way of living an intelligence which is not seen in
the very highest forms of vegetable life. At the same time it is true that
in their lowest forms animal and vegetable life approach each other so
nearly that it is often difficult to say where the one ends and the other
begins.
But without the plants and their ceaseless work, as the "sleepless
universal providers of the earth," as they have been called, all animal
life would fail and die; for they are the means by which all the
nourishment which is contained in earth, air, and water can be made of use
both to themselves and to the animals.
And is it not very beautiful to see how God has made one part of His
creation dependent upon another, and all dependent upon Him? Does it not
show us His care for His creatures, and especially for that wonderful
creature--the last and best of all, who was created for the earth and the
earth for him--when we see, as we have seen so constantly, that before the
inhabitants of earth, air, and sea came into being, He had caused the earth
to bring forth that which should give to every living thing the means of
sustaining life?
I have called this chapter, which does not speak of the work of God on any
special Day of Creation, THE STONE BOOK. A wonderful book it is for those
who can read it; its leaves are the successive layers of the earth's crust;
its letters are not only the remains of plants, but the fossil-shells and
bones of animals imprisoned there, which tell us that creatures, all in
some way unlike any we now know, once lived and died, and are still to be
found, not in their ancient forms in rushy mere of tangled jungle, but in
"graves of stone and monuments of marble."
When we were speaking of the coal-mines I told you something about
the remains of giant ferns, sedges, reeds, and mare's-tails of far
larger growth than any now known, which have been found there. You are
familiar with fossil-plants, but I do not think we have spoken much
of fossil-animals, which are found in all except the oldest layers of
rock--the first pages of the "Stone Book."
The children had been with me to the Museum in the town in which we lived,
and had looked with wonder at the huge creatures whose skeletons have
been built up bone by bone, after being taken from their rocky tomb--for
this earth of ours which has seen so many changes has been rifled of her
treasures; not the gold and silver, coal and iron with which she is so
richly stored, but the wonderful specimens of God's work in bygone ages
which He has allowed us to see; so that we cannot doubt that such creatures
once existed, though we may know nothing with certainty as to the time of
their first appearance in the sea and on the dry land, and can only guess
at the kind of life they lived.
You remember that we spoke, in the chapter about the earth's crust, of the
"fire-made rocks," which were once in a liquid state from intense heat
(we could not expect to find any remains of plants or animals there, and
none _have_ been found), and of the "water-made rocks," which have been
gradually accumulated by the action of water in wearing down the land.
These rocks lie in layers, and fossil shells, plants, and bones of animals
have been found in them, as we have already seen.
But how did these fossils get into the rocks? And how is it that they have
been found in all countries and at all heights above the sea?
Before I try to answer these questions, I must tell you that when
geologists speak of "rock" they mean everything which has gone to form the
crust of the earth, whether clay, or loose sand and gravel, or the hard
heavy granite which some of us had seen crowning the Dartmoor tors.
It is thought that the huge creatures whose bones have been found at
different depths in the earth's _strata_ were buried there when the "rock"
which formed the layers was soft; perhaps in the mud of lakes, or in peat
or sand at the mouths of rivers. Then, as time went on, their softer parts
perished, but the harder turned to stone, thus forming the "letters" in the
stony pages from which those who study the earth try to read something of
its history. Then, as sea-shells are found inland, deeply buried in the
hills, it is thought that the land in which they were buried has been
raised by earthquakes, or thrown out by volcanoes: or was altered in
position at the time when the earth's foundations were overflowed with
a Flood, and "the waters stood above the mountains." As geologists read
the Stone Book, like the writing of Eastern lands, _backwards_--as they
search deeper and deeper into the crust of the earth, they speak of its
Old life, Middle life, and New life: but we must remember that they _do_
read backwards, calling the older life what is really the younger. And
we must also bear in mind that many of the words used in what is called
science--especially those relating to the study of the earth--betray our
ignorance rather than prove our knowledge. The marking off stages in the
life-history of the earth, and speaking of its Old, Middle, and New Age has
been done to help in the study of its crust. Nothing is known, however,
with certainty about these different periods or where one ends and another
begins, and no one knows whether the first, or oldest, layer has yet been
discovered. One geologist says, "I have found it," and presently another
penetrates a little deeper, goes a little farther back, and finds one lower
still. Nor can anyone say certainly where a fossil-fern or the mummy of
an old-world fish appeared for the first time, and though many plants and
animals which are found in a fossil state have long been extinct, yet
there are many more which appear at a very ancient date and have continued
unchanged to the present time.
There is a famous cliff in Dorsetshire upon which may be read, almost as
upon a map, the record of the changes which have passed over it during its
life-history.
On examining the strata, or layers which lie one above the other,
geologists find the first, or lowest of all, to be Portland stone, which
was formed by the accumulation of lime at the bottom of the sea.
The second layer shows that this sea-bed in time became dry land, and was
covered with soil--what had once been the seashore gradually giving place
to a forest.
But how do we know that such a wonderful change was wrought in process of
time?
We have clear proof that it was so from the vegetable soil still remaining,
and the numbers of trees the remains of which are embedded in the rock,
many of them standing upright as when growing.
The third layer seems to show, from the limestone and the fresh-water
shells embedded in it, that the level land where the forest grew sank lower
and lower until it formed a hollow which in time became a lake.
The fourth layer, which "ends this strange, eventful history," gives
evidence of the whole land having been again covered by the ocean, and
again raised above the waters!
If we were studying geology together, I should like to take you with me to
the Museum, and we would first look at the fossils which are believed to
belong to the most ancient time of life upon the earth; then we would pass
on to those belonging to the second or "middle" stage, and then to the
third, or "new" stage, letting these wonderful stones, taken from mountain
height or deep sea bottom, or from the depths of the earth itself, tell
their own eloquent story.
But what I should like you to remember is that geologists of our own time
tell us that the lowest layer of the earth's crust which has yet been
explored appears to be made of vegetable remains, so crushed and altered by
time and by the tremendous pressure of rocky layers lying above it,
that though it is probably of the same material as that which forms the
coal-measures, it resembles the blacklead of which pencils are made much
more than the coal which you know is what has been formed by the decay of
buried forests and jungles.
In this layer of "graphite," geologists with the help of their microscopes
have searched in vain for any trace of what once was living, but they think
it may have been formed from the "flowerless" plants, or even from those
still more lowly, too minute when living to be seen by the naked eye, and
consisting of one tiny bag or "cell."
They tell us that these "infant" plants were followed by those of larger
growth, specimens of which are found in layers of rock and clay nearer the
surface, and are followed by remains of the "herb yielding seed, and the
fruit tree yielding fruit after its kind"--for mummies of seed vessels and
fruits have been found in coal-fields in many parts of the world.
It is interesting, too, to see that as far as we can tell at present, in
the case of fossil-fish and other living creatures, the lowest forms are
found _first_ (that is, _farthest back_), and are followed by remains of
creatures higher in the scale of life; that is to say, not so simple in
structure. In using the words "higher" or "lower," we do not mean that
there is anything imperfect about the humbler creatures; they are exactly
suited to the life which has been given to them to live, but their form is
very simple compared with that of "higher" animals, just as a three-legged
stool is much more simple in its construction, and is made of fewer parts,
than a watch. I may tell you a little about these lowly creatures when we
speak of the FIFTH DAY of Creation, and then you will see that they were
all made according to a "perfect goodly pattern" or plan, and each "after
its kind"; for if we read the pages of the Stone Book aright, we shall see
plainly written there that from the first beginnings of life, as far as it
is given us to trace them, the goodness and wisdom and power of God are
shown in the way in which the smallest creature of His hand is suited to
the place appointed to it to fill, by Him who is "good to all," and whose
"tender mercies are over all His works."
But there is a great difference between what we may thus glean from the
study of the earth, and what is revealed to us by the clear teaching of the
Word of God, as He tells us what He did in His wonderful work of Creation,
and how He "saw everything that He had made, and behold it was very good."
When God speaks, all is clear and simple and true; and is to be understood
by believing His word: when we come to the thoughts of men about what
happened in the far past, especially when they try to settle not only the
_when_ but the _how_ of His mighty working, much is dark uncertainty.
Should we then _not_ study the letters of the Stone Book? I did not say so;
"God has made everything beautiful in its time," and His handiwork in the
past as well as the present is indeed worthy of our attention. But in
reading books about geology, more perhaps than in any other study, you need
to ask God to teach you to hold fast by His Word.
Then, if you read that many geologists now believe that there has been no
special creation of fish or bird or beast of the earth, but that "all the
many forms of plant and animal life have been unfolded out of a few simple
forms, just as the stem, the leaf, and the flower are evolved out of a
simple seed"--you will say at once, "That cannot be; for God has plainly
told us of both plants and animals that they were made each 'after its
kind,' and therefore there can never have been such a thing as a fish
developing into a bird, or a bird into a lizard: nor, so far as I have
seen, is any such creature to be found in a fossil state."
I heard some time ago that a young man who was studying to become a doctor,
said to his father, "When I go to some of my lectures on biology" (that is
the study of life), "the only thing that I can do when I hear things said
that are quite contrary to the Bible, is to keep saying to myself, 'It's
not _true_, it's not _true_.'"
I think this young man was right: he had settled it in his heart that
whatever he might hear, he must think as God thinks. He was like one who
when just starting in life, wrote these words on the flyleaf of his little
Bible--"Man has faith in his compass, yet he cannot understand it. He takes
it as his guide across the trackless ocean. He relies implicitly upon it,
and well he may trust it. This Book is my compass. I have faith in it,
thanks to God: it explains itself; I take it for my guide across the ocean
of life--I rely upon it. Man may jeer at my faith, but my compass is vastly
more reliable than his--still better may I trust mine."
"HIDDEN TREASURES.
"The gems of earth are still within
Her silent unwrought mines;
There hide they, all unknown, unseen,
No sparkle upward shines.
"The stars of heaven, how few and wan
Are all we see below
Compared with what remain unseen
Beyond all vision now!
"Who knows the untold brilliance there,
The wealth, the beauty hid?
Like sparkle of a lustrous eye
Beneath its veiling lid.
"So with the heaven of better stars
Of which these are but signs:
So with the stores of wisdom hid
In everlasting mines."
H. BONAR.
THE FIFTH DAY.
"THE MOVING CREATURE THAT HATH LIFE."
"_This is the finger of God._"--EXODUS viii. 19.
"_The Lord ... in whose hand is the soul of every living thing._"--JOB xii.
10.
"_O Lord, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast Thou made them all:
the earth is full of Thy riches. So is this great and wide sea, wherein are
things creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts._"--PSALM civ. 24,
25.
We now come to the time when the empty water, air, and land were filled.
The work of God on the FIFTH DAY is spoken of in verses 20 and 21 of our
chapter. In reading them we noticed that in respect of the "great whales,"
or sea monsters, the word "created" is again used, as it was in the first
verse; and then, as we read the twenty-third verse, we had a little talk
about the words now used for the first time in the story of Creation, "and
God blessed them."
How beautiful it is to see that as soon as God had caused the waters to
"swarm with swarms of living souls" (look at the margin of your Bible as
you read the twentieth verse)--as soon as we read of creatures to whom God
gave a life different from that of a tree or a flower, a life that could
enjoy itself in the home prepared for it--all these living things were
blessed, that is, made happy, by Him who called them into being!
God's world was a happy world for the humblest creature of His hand; and if
it is now a sad world, where the groan of many a suffering animal goes up
to Him who hears the ravens when they cry--whose fault is it?
Did you ever think how kind we ought to be to the creatures which, innocent
themselves, have shared the sorrow brought into the world by man's
disobedience? I heard someone say the other day, "It is terrible to see
animals suffer: to see cattle overdriven, and sheep dying for want of
water, and defenceless creatures cruelly used. But when I see any of these
things, I have to feel--_I_ am to blame for that."
When I asked my scholars, "What is the meaning of _abundantly_?" Sharley
said, "It means enough and over."
Do you like her answer?
As the sea everywhere, even down in those depths where the sun's light
cannot pierce through the masses of water, is peopled by millions of
creatures--every drop of water, as we might say, _alive_ with life--I
thought it a good one. A great poet has spoken of the "multitudinous seas,"
but whether this was in allusion to their wealth of life, or to their
myriad waves, I do not know. Certainly in his time very little was known
about the dwellers in the deep, deep sea, compared with what we may learn
in the present day, when the sounding-line has reached the bottom of
the Atlantic, and actually brought up some of the clay that forms its
floor--clay which is made up of the skeletons of myriads of creatures. It
was once thought that no life could exist in the ocean-depths, but we now
know that life is everywhere--in air and water, upon the earth and within
it, in the lowest depths of the sea, and on the highest mountain peaks, in
hot and cold climates, and in the bodies of animals: all around us--earth,
air, and water--teems with life.
Now let us read once more the simple words which tell us all we can really
know about what is so wonderful: "And God said, Let the waters bring
forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life" (or, as it may be
translated, "Let the waters swarm with swarms of living souls").
We will not read farther to-day, as I want to tell you in this chapter
something about life in what are called its lower forms, and we shall
find that wherever we may look, every creature is perfect in itself, and
perfectly suited to the life appointed to it by its Creator, and the home
where He has placed it.